Game To Watch: Clemson vs #23 Pittsburgh: October 23, 2021

Clemson will visit Pittsburgh for their match-up on Saturday at 3:30 EST. The Tigers held on to beat Syracuse by a field goal last week, running their record to 4 – 2 with back to back wins. The Panthers are 5 – 1 having won three straight games, including a pair of road wins against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech the last two weeks. Pittsburgh is leading the ACC Coastal, while Clemson has to keep pace with NC State in the ACC Atlantic after losing the head to head match-up a few weeks ago.

Recent History

Clemson and Pittsburgh have split the last four meetings between the two teams. The Tigers have won two in a row in 2018 and 2020, both in blowout fashion. The Panther’s last win in the series was a 43 – 42 road win in 2016. Though the two teams have met four times previously, Pittsburgh has never played a home game against Clemson.

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What To Watch For…

Will Clemson’s Offense Make an Appearance?

Clemson’s offense has been missing all season. The Tigers didn’t score a touchdown against Georgia, which could have been chalked up to playing a tough opponent, but the woes have continued since. Other than a 49 point outburst against FCS opponent South Carolina State, Clemson has not scored more than 21 points in any game. The Tigers have struggled to move the ball with any consistency, they are averaging 5.7 yards per pass attempt and 4.3 yards per rush attempt. They are 13th in the ACC averaging 4.95 yards per play. The vanishing Clemson offense has been one of the biggest surprises of the season and the Tigers have to get it corrected to return to dominance in the ACC. Pittsburgh’s defense has been solid this year, but struggled against Tennessee and Western Michigan earlier this year. The Panthers allow just 4.96 yards per play themselves and Clemson will have to play better than they have to find offensive success in this game. Pitt is not an easy opponent to get the offense on track against, but that’s what Clemson will have to do to win on Saturday.

Does Kenny Pickett Keep Rolling Against a Good Clemson Defense?

On the other sideline, Kenny Pickett has led Pittsburgh’s offense to an excellent start to the 2021 season. Pickett has been on fire through the first six games of the season, he is completing 70 percent of his passes, averaging 9.4 yards per pass attempt and has a 21 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio. He is leading the conferences top scoring offense at 48.3 points per game, the Panthers are also first in the conference in yards per game and yards per play. Pittsburgh has scored 28 or more points in all of their games and has scored over 40 points in five of six games this year. Clemson’s defenses will be the toughest test that Pitt offense has seen to date. The Tigers may be struggling on offense, but the defense has held up it’s end of the bargain all season. They have not allowed 28 points in a single game this season. Clemson leads the ACC in points per game against (12.5 points per game) and yards per play (4.4 yards per play). Pickett will have to play his best ball to keep the Panthers’ offense rolling against a talented Clemson defense.

Will Either Team Run the Ball Effectively?

Despite the different levels of success on offense, neither team has been able to run the ball consistently this year. Clemson and Pittsburgh are 9th and 10th in the conference, averaging 4.26 and 4.24 yards per carry respectively. The Panthers have relied on their passing game and the strong play of the quarterback to offset the lack of a steady running game. Clemson has not been able to rely on their quarterback to carry their offense and needs the running game to take some of the pressure of DJ Uiagalelei. Both teams have allowed 3.1 yards per carry rushing and are top four in the ACC in scoring defense and total defense. It will be even more important for the offenses to maintain balance on offense and find their running game to control the game on Saturday.

Prediction

Clemson’s defense has been their calling card all year and they will make things difficult for the Pittsburgh offense. The problem for the Tigers is that the offense has been unable to capitalize on their strong play. There’s no reason to think the offense plays better this week and Pittsburgh has the ability to make enough plays to win the game at home. Pittsburgh 24 Clemson 20.

NCAA FOOTBALL 2020: Pitt at Clemson NOV 28 image taken by TigerNet.com is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

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